We Hold Space
SholderUp brings transformative mental wellness and emotional support to under-resourced populations.
Powerful Connections for Human Flourishing
SholderUp (or "SUP") is a 501c3 non-profit corporation that makes skilled mental and emotional support available to anyone in need, with a specific focus on high risk, underserved, economically disadvantaged, and minority communities.
Our organization was inspired by the work of Sholder, a Public Benefit Corporation. We license intellectual property from Sholder, Inc., and work with other peer-to-peer support frameworks to bring access to skills-based trainings and up-skilled providers to populations with limited financial resources or other systemic hardships.
Because of our licensing agreement with Sholder, Inc., we focus primarily on the practice and use of a specific peer-to-peer mental and emotional well-being methodology known as “Sholdering” or "The Sholder Method", sometimes also referred to as “Spaceholding”, and we conduct research to measure the impact of skilled relational support on individuals, families, communities, and broader societal groups, both in the short and long term.
Intentional Programs for Lasting Impact
SholderUp's programs prioritize both intra-community and inter-community connections, bridging gaps in modern mental health care. We train people from within those communities, creating a regenerative model for supportive and transformational conversations. Providers and those receiving support both gain great value, as genuine impact is created from connections within and across all generations (from pre-teens to the elderly), races, ethnicities, cultures, spiritual or religious beliefs, gender identities, sexual preferences, body types, socioeconomic status, and other ways people may identify themselves as unique expressions of our global human family.
We concentrate our educational and outreach activities in communities and neighborhoods most directly affected by a lack of mental and emotional well-being services, with an emphasis on youth, low- and middle-income, multicultural, social minority, and economically challenged communities. Resources are directed into providing discounted or free services, implementing core organizational programs, and carrying out research studies to maximize overall impact through engineering more balanced, emotionally intelligent, and psychologically safe communities.
SholderUp also makes mental and emotional support services freely available or radically affordable for specific individuals or communities following times of crisis or as part of strategic initiatives to serve people or groups that fall within our target scope of impact.
Areas of Focus
1
Up-Skilling Providers for Economic Mobility
SholderUp provides free or subsidized workshops, training classes, interactive experiences, and in-person education to up-skill qualified individuals as providers of mental & emotional support, leading to opportunities for paid work on the Sholder platform. We work with gifted empaths, helpers, and healers in target populations or communities to bridge the gaps in mental health and emotional support, preparing them for “future of work” remote contract opportunities with flexible hours on a gig economy platform.
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2
Support for Under-Resourced Communities
SholderUp expands access to skilled providers for people in marginalized populations who live within the United States. We connect people in need with providers trained in The Sholder™ Method who have shared life experiences or are from a similars backgrounds or communities, yet are trained to support others outside of a medical or clinical paradigm. Target populations served include LGBTQ+, BIPOC, women, and economically disadvantaged people who are navigating difficult transitions such as refugees, and those who are housing insecure.
3
Youth Access & Experiential Programs
SholderUp serves middle school and high school aged students by creating programs, content, and events that teach sholdering skills and support experiential, practice-based learning opportunities on how to “hold space” for self and others. By connecting students with skilled practitioners in a safe, established environment with proper oversight, we normalize the language of emotions and inner life while providing access to transformational conversations within distributed peer groups and other contextual frameworks that are designed for youth.
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4
Anti-Loneliness & Awakening Purpose
SholderUp brings new levels of transformative connection and purpose to the most lonely and discouraged in our society, from the aging to the most isolated. Reducing loneliness has proven to drop dementia risk by over 50% and mortality risk by over 25%, with myriad other health benefits that bring down overall costs of care. We create intentional connections for those in isolated or aging communities with each other and with the Sholder community to improve quality of life and reduce instances of acute psychological and medical issues.
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